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Research Guides

PERS 2002: Science Perspectives on Global Problems (Dr. Martin)

A course guide for students enrolled in Dr. Martin's Science Perspectives on Global Problems course.

Library Databases

The library has a number of general and business specific databases that you may want to use to search for specific details about your research topic. In addition to pulling information from different source material, each database may organize information using different subject terms and keywords. Most databases also allow patrons to use filters to narrow down search their search results even further.

If you are getting too many search results, or too few, please consider setting up a research appointment for help. You can email me to request an appointment.

The library has a number of general databases that cover multiple subject areas. 

  • Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary database providing indexing and abstracts for thousands of journals and other publications. PDF content dates back to 1887.
  • ProQuest Central brings together over 160 major subject areas, including thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports all together on a powerful, user-friendly platform.
  • Research Library provides one-stop access to more than 4,000 periodicals from one of the broadest, most inclusive general reference databases ProQuest has to offer. Search from a highly-respected, diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications and magazines covering over 150 academic disciplines.
  • Web of Science covers all academic subject areas and provides seamless access to information about scholarly journal articles from the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index as well as Book Citation Index and Conference Proceedings Citation Index.

Database Search Tips

Knowing what kind of database you're using can help you know how to search for information in it. General databases cover a wide variety of topics, resources and subject materials. They can be a good place to start your research or to search for information when your topic is multi-disciplinary. Subject-specific databases, like ABI/INFORM, Business Source Complete and others cover articles, news, legal information, statistics, etc. related to their particular subject or discipline. 

If you're not sure what is covered in a database, you can check the publications that it includes. 

Screenshot of Business Source Complete with an arrow pointing to the link for the Publications AuthorityScreenshot of the ABI/INFORM database showing two arrows pointing to where to find the publications list

 

Searching a library database is different that searching Google, which is a search engine that has been optimized for "natural language" searches. Most library databases use what's called a "controlled vocabulary" to make the information that they include more findable. Examples of controlled vocabularies can include index terms, subject headings, or a thesaurus that the database uses to group items so that patrons can search for them. 

When you are searching a library database you will also want to keep in mind that different vendors may use different terms for the same thing. To make sure that you are effectively searching the database, you can check the "subject terms" or "thesaurus" to learn how the database organizes its information and how to search for items on your topic. 

For example, to find the thesaurus for Business Source Complete:

  1. Login to Business Source Complete, find and click "subjects authority" on the leftScreen shot of business source complete database search
  2. Click on "subjects" and enter your search term in the box to search the "business thesaurus"Screen shot of Business Source Complete Thesaurus with search for terms in business thesaurus highlighted
  3. Note that you can search terms by "relevancy ranked" or "term begins with"Business Source Complete Thesaurus with arrow highlighting relevancy ranked or term begins with
  4. You can also browse the list of terms to select multiple terms, select multiple terms and choose the Boolean operator to join themScreen shot of business source complete thesaurus serach for "influencer" showing multiple search terms selected and the Boolean operators that can be used to join the terms